So i bought a MSI FX5900 Ultra about month ago & at a closer time i bought a P4:3GB (800FSB).
since then i had experinced a sudden shutdowns(about 3 times) & that when i ran a game with very high quality settings .
i can hear the CPU fan gets louder with the time & when i inspected the gfx card after the shutdown i found it very hot!

i suspect an overheating but cant be sure is it the CPU or the gfx card ??! by the way my room is hot at this time of the year .
when i take the side case off or turn on the a/c everything seems to go fine .
my case has 2 fans (1suck / 1exhaust) & 400W PSU.

what do you think is the prob & how to fix it ??

thanks in advace..

ricercar

07-29-03, 08:46 PM

If you stop having the problem when the case is open, then it's probably a thermal problem like you guessed. Cure it by installing better ventillation in the machine (more fans, more blowholes, or leave the cover off) or by decreasing the software quality settings. I have one machine I cannot close in the summer unless the air conditioner is on.

When I've observed a NVIDIA graphics cards overheating to the point of failure, a Windows machine usually displays a blue screen failure ("Windows has shut down to prevent damage to your hardware") and identifies nv_xxxxx.dll as the culprit. If this is happening, you can increase airflow across the graphics card or replace the card with one that runs cooler.

If your machine shuts down completely, I'd guess the problem is (primarily) CPU thermal protection and not (exclusively) the video card overheating. Get a program like Motherboard Monitor http://mbm.livewiredev.com/ and check your CPU temperature with it. Drive the machine to failure, while watching the CPU temperature. If the CPU is overheating, consider researching and buying another heatsink.

SH64

07-29-03, 08:53 PM

yeah i thought its the CPU fan too .
ok do you know what temp. the thermal protection will work in it & shutdown the pc ?? i've read that max temp for P4:3GB is 70C!

SH64

07-30-03, 06:32 PM

I think i found the problem .. it was the power cable!
looks like it moves with the rise of the CPU heat & cuz a shutdown .
i tried to move it slightly & suddenly the PC shutdown !! now i change it with other one . everything seems cool now
:)